Full price sales of luxury goods in steep decline

Jul 6, 2016

Full price sales of luxury goods have dropped dramatically year-on-year, according to a study conducted by real-time analytics firm Edited in the wake of the UK’s shocking Brexit vote two weeks ago. The result of the referendum have put further pressure on full priced sales.

Comparing online sales of full priced luxury goods from June 24 to July 3 this year with those that occurred during the same period a year earlier, the study found the number of items that sold out at full price fell by a whopping 48 percent.

Full price “sell outs” at major European mega-brands, in particular, fell sharply, according to the study, with Louis Vuitton suffering a steep decline of 73 percent. Full price sell outs of Kering-owned brand Bottega Veneta fell by 81 percent, while Saint Laurent fell by 68 percent and Balenciaga fell by 55 percent.

“There’s no doubt that we’ve seen a wider downturn in the market overall,” said Edited co-founder Julia Fowler, who believes the Brexit vote played a large part in the decline. “We’ve seen that when people don’t know what is coming next, it seriously impacts how they spend. What made the case for us here, was what we saw when we compared the rate of global luxury sell outs 10 days before the Brexit vote to the 10 days directly after,” she added. “Over that time, we observed a global decrease of 60 percent. That’s a big indicator that the outcome of the vote was behind a significant portion of the downturn.”

Some British retailers have benefitted from the pound’s record lows, as foreign tourists looking to grab a bargain have rushed to buy products from brands like Burberry, as well as online luxury retailers like Matchesfashion.com whose items now cost considerably less in dollars and euros. Burberry saw a 50 percent rise in sales of its full-priced “sell-out” items online, with Matchesfashion.com posting a 90 increase in the same period.

Accessories were the most sought-after, accounting for 60 percent of “sell outs,” followed by tops, outerwear and footwear.